The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2026 Monaco GP Race Review

Episode Date: June 7, 2026

From endless penalties and numerous retirements to late red-flag drama, the Monaco GP had a LOT going on. Join Ben and Sam as they break it all down and somehow fit it into one episode. Get involved in F1 Fantasy this season! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join the Late Braking league⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and see if you can beat us... LEAGUE CODE: C6Y6R4ZUY02 Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get:Ad-free listeningFull-length bonus episodesPower Rankings after every raceHistorical race reviews& more exclusive extras!Don't forget! You can also gift a Late Braking Patreon subscription—perfect for loved ones or your own wish list. Choose anything from 1 month up to a full year of top-notch F1 content: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingf1/gift⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Late Braking:You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats!Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and see if you can beat us!Get in touch any time at [e-mail]  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thank you for listening to the late-breaking F-1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Welcome to the late-breaking F-1 podcast presented by Sam's Age and me, Ben Hocking. It's Monaco Grand Prix review time and good luck to us because we're on earth. Are we going to start with all of that? We can at least start by saying Kimmy Antonelli has won this race and therefore won five in a row. first ever Monaco Grand Prix victory for him. I can't even say that with 100% confidence

because whilst he's not under investigation and wasn't all day, Sam, it feels like at any moment there could be just another 10 second penalty that rolls through. Yeah, you get a penalty, you get a penalty, you get a penalty. It feels like it was just fuzzies

in terms of the penalties. A lot of the time we critique the FIA skewers for not giving out penalties fast enough and here it's almost like a money gun. You give them more to do and they get quicker. I know. Again, another one, another one.

Yeah, they were just dishing them out. We had the pit lane controversy going on or whether the speaking thing was correct. We had drive-throughs for Russell because penalties weren't so properly. We've had out-of-grid position with Perez, possibly again. We're waiting to hear that come through.

There is so many different types of penalties. Lark Strong managed to get a track limits penalty at Monaco. I don't know how it happened, but he achieved it. Yeah, the wall is track limits, I'm afraid. Don't touch it. I'm joking, lads. I am joking. Yeah, good luck to us trying to get through all of this today.

We'll do our best to cover everything that we possibly can in the next hour or so. And that's why you need to be on Patreon for power rankings because early plug today. I know you love those early plugs. We're going to do our best to get through as much as we can. But every single driver is covered in that on our Patreon from tomorrow. We've got driver of the day coming up, worst driver of the day, everything to do with McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari, all having very mixed days, I think you could say. But let's start out front with a guy who definitely didn't have a mixed day, Kimmy Antonelli.

Questions about some of his poorer starts so far this year. Was that going to cost him here at Monaco? In the end, he had to do two of them. And they were absolutely fine in both instances, led this race at one point by nearly 30 seconds. The safety car will make this look a bit closer than it was. But even with that, Sam, the six or seven laps or so after the red flag, he still managed to open up about a pit stop advantage over third place. I was almost stunned to silence at just how quick Kimi Antigali was, genuinely shocked at how fast he was.

We came to this weekend and we thought that Mercedes might be at a disadvantage. And in the eyes of George Russell, it was at a disadvantage. He was unable to produce any kind of competent, quick result that showed up properly throughout the whole weekend. It never looked likely that he was going to appear on the podium at any point. weekend. And yet on the other side of the garage, his 19-year-old teammate who has become the youngest ever Monaco GP winner, five in a row. It looked like at one point he was going to win with the biggest winning margin that we've seen in the 21st century. He was so much faster than everyone else. And the Ferraris did not have a response, even in the clean air, Lewis Hamilton and

Charlerc, unable to even remotely reign in Antingelli in the Mercedes. And you're right, that moment that the race restarted with about six or seven laps ago and you think, okay, sure, this is going to be a close one. Hamilton might get alongside into turn one. It was close for a lap or two, right? Hamilton stuck by him initially. One point one, one point two, and it's saved like that for one lap. And then suddenly he's seven seconds up the road. And it's not just seven seconds to Lewis Hamilton. The guys behind, Hajar, Gasly, of course, they end up being over 15 seconds back on the finish line, which is over two seconds a lot faster, which is just phenomenal.

And you don't need to take a risk. He must have been so comfortable in such a state of happiness with that car. To produce such a result was astounding. And I really am so impressed by what he was able to do this weekend because the poll up was incredible, gets away on both occasions well, manages a safety car, restart brilliantly.

There's a lot of things that could have gone wrong. We saw so many penalties going in so many different ways, which we will get onto as much as we can. It all could have gone his way. And it just didn't. It was just so serene. It was calm. And it was everything you want from a winner of Monaco.

And he delivered it every turn. I know we've only got five of these to review so far in terms of Kimmy Antonelli wins. And guess what, folks, that number isn't going to stop at five. But at least from those that we can say at the moment, this was Antonelli's best win in F1 yet and quite comfortably. By far. And that's not to say the other four haven't been impressive as well. But this was just another level in. entirely. And I think maybe what was most impressive about this, outside of it being his first

Monaco GP win, youngest to ever win here, etc., etc., is that this could have gone very differently. I know it's difficult to overtake at Monaco, and that obviously gives the advantage to whoever leads out of the first corner. The fact that he negotiated that twice in itself is very good. But I think outside of being overtaken into term one by Max Verstappen, the second worst result for Antonelli was for Stappan to either drop back to fourth or drop out of the race entirely because that then means he's got two Ferraris directly behind him in second and third. And we've seen it at Monaco before. You can therefore play the strategy game when you've got two drivers in one team directly behind just someone by themselves in the lead. But that was

completely negated by how quick he was. You can say, well, this wasn't his best win because you can't overtake at Monaco. Who cares? He was 15 seconds clear of everyone after 10 laps. No one was even going to have the chance to overtake him at Monaco. Even if the cup was twice as wide, they weren't going to have a chance at overtaking him. And he manages to gap Lewis Hamilton and Charlotte Clare quite quickly early on. And every time you think the gap sort of stabilises for a few laps, that's when he would then kick on again. And it would just be this, this relentless nature of this consistency lap after lap to the point where we were looking at, as you said maybe record-breaking for the 21st century in terms of win-margin,

and take nothing away from him. I don't care what the wind margin actually ended up being. That's very much safety car-driven. He was in another league. He lapped his team, mate. He lapped George Russell, who was in fourth place at the time. And there's not been many occasions where we've seen everyone up to fourth place slapped. I do want to actually just mention on that,

because we will get into Russell's racing a little bit. At that point in the Grand Prix, George Russell had no one in front of him. And Antonelli, who hadn't lapped him yet, was behind. So if Russell, who had been caught up in a lot of traffic, just had the outright pace to match Antinelli, Antonelli would not have been able to lap him. Yet he did, because his pace was better.

Yeah, there was a comment from Brundle, I think it was on the Sky Sports broadcast that stated that the two fastest cars on the track right now were the two Mercedes cars, but Kimi Ansigelli was one second to lap faster again than George Russell, lap after lap after lap, which just shows you the level of guys,

comfort that Anting Ali was feeling. No pressure. Out in first. He should have had the weight of the world on his shoulders, that one single mistake, one inch in the wrong place, and he ends up putting the car out of the Grand Prix. Nothing. He got out of that car in the Red Flag period. He looks so chill, so casual, so calm.

Has a little apple juice, I think he did a little squeasy that he just took in between. You know, a little power up. Little apple juice. I just have a little snacky. Why not? And be on my way. He was because it was something.

something special. And I said it last year, Antigali will go on to be a world champion. If it's not this year, it will definitely be sometime very soon. It will be races like this that we look at in the next decade where we go, that's how we knew. They were special moments that became something of a crowning moment for that individual. Lewis Hamilton sits down and gets him in the call-down, Roma goes, you're catching me up now, man. He's got a ways to go yet to catch up to Lewis, but he's making a good start of it, no doubt about that. We'll get it. We'll get it. into championship permutations a lot more in episodes outside of today's race review specifically. But, you know, we are now in a spot where Antonelli, if he retires from the next two races and

Russell wins them both, it's a 16 point lead that Antonelli still has like 66 points separating them. That is a huge margin. It's not great, is it? It doesn't look comfortable at all. And if anything, it's now only going to get easier for Antingley as well. He's really, I think, overcome the majority of the challenge where it was adjusting to the new season, proving he could do something, going to Morocco winning there. Even if it now goes back to Russell wins one week, Antigali wins another. Russell has a mountain to climb, Everest level ability to climb to even get back to this. So I think the worst part is that Kimmy Antigelli is now only one win away from matching George Russell's entire total in Formula One. He might do it all in a row from his first

Grand Prix. Entirely possible. Let's talk about George Russell's Grand Prix because there's a lot to get into there. Tough to know where to start with it, to be honest. Started sixth place. Caught behind Isaac Adjah for much of that first stint, then picks up a penalty for speeding in the pit lane, doesn't serve that penalty correctly when the safety car comes out, is therefore given a drive-through penalty that he serves towards the end of this race, leaving him out of the points with no real option to get back into the points at the end. Where do you want to start with this one? I mean, this is why qualifying is so important in Monaco. he got caught up behind the car

that in theory should have been pretty quick but it has issues, pretty much the entire Grand Prix. You know what? I want to give a little bit of credit to Isaac Hajar who is not stop screaming over the radio, by the way.

I think he's just eternally yelling into the darkness, which is his crash helmet. But he's having to deal with this failing car. We really saw that one car from the Red Bull family is broken down immediately. So there's every chance that he could be the same. But unfortunately for Russell,

because of how he qualified, he is caught up behind. in this very slow-moving Red Bull. So they try something a bit crafty. They try and going for an undercut. They find a good gap there. And he's one of the first to be caught out by what feels like this continuous timeline of pit lane speeding penalties, infringements that are coming out.

Now, this one I kind of, I see the argument that a lot of people are making about, oh, there must have been a problem, they must have been a mistake, the sanctions must have moved. Well, I think I've got two arguments for that. One is, there was about 15 drivers that didn't speed in the pit lane, that were all completely fine going in there and had no problem whatsoever. And Zach Brown, when over the radio, was asked about the issue within the Spitling, pitling, pitling, said about, oh, what about Piastri? You know, was he, is he been caught up in this?

He went, well, no, our data says that he was just speeding in the pit lane. It just kind of feels like you brought that on yourself. That's five seconds. That's bad. We'll have to move on with it. That's your own fault. The bit that I can't forgive actually is very much on Mercedes point of view here and not from Russell, which is under safety car.

they double stack the Mercedes. He is, of course, stopped. The call is too late for him to stay out, quite clearly on the radio when they're showing the replay. He's already coming into the pit lane when they're saying to stay out. And then they touch the car immediately. And there's no communication. It's so poor.

And then when Russell's trying to say, what happened on my penalty? Do we serve the penalty? Do I have to serve the penalty? What's happening? They're almost annoyed at him for asking the question where he's going, I need answers. I just think Mercedes really mucked this one up.

A five second mistake is one thing. He can maybe drop back to sixth, maybe. But this has ruined any chance of any point's ability because I'm saying it's not being able to manage the situation in the pit lane. It's fairly clear in the regulations as well. I know there were some questions about it, but if you don't serve that five second penalty correctly, like you are...

On your first chance of asking. You are going, yes, at your first opportunity, if there is one, you are going to receive a bigger penalty afterwards. That makes sense. Yeah, obviously some confusion about, communication before that pit stop, trying to tell Russell to keep going to avoid the double stack, then Russell comes in. They kind of have tires there, but not quite ready in position. The pit stop is actually pretty good, I think, all things considered with that double stack.

But of course, the five second penalty is completely ignored. And you can tell, I forget which side of the car it is, you could tell on, maybe it was the front right. I think the front right know that he has to serve the five second penalty. But as soon, as one person touches it and someone hasn't got the memo, that's as good as everyone not getting it. It's the chapman, isn't it? The jackman is straight in there to pick up the car immediately. And you're right. The front left is straight off. And the front right hesitates for about a second, I think. You're right to call that out. Clearly someone in the team was aware. Yeah, but as soon as someone touches it, there's no point delaying then because you're going to get the penalty. You might as well just make the pit stop as quick as he can. a real scruffy day for Russell even sort of excluding that.

Again, he's one of the drivers to pick up the five second penalty in the first place. Got fortunate, I think, to avoid a penalty far earlier on in terms of the grid spot. It must have been very close. Almost got a penalty for crossing the white line. And in both of those instances, you could say, well, he's flirted with the rules and got away with it. I think on a different day, they're both penalties. I genuinely think of just a different day, different person, that's a penalty. And then obviously, yeah, I think most of what went wrong in terms of his pace or being stuck behind other cars, yeah, it's just a result of what happened in qualifying.

That's why you need to maximise qualifying here in Monaco. We've seen this year after year. It's not a massive surprise. This is heartbreak for George Russell. In terms of championship permutations, I think maybe dang douging at this point, which is really unfortunate. But on the flip side, secretly, I wonder if this makes Mercedes life really simple. I wonder if now they've got a league driver. They've got a guy who's winning the title fight.

Their other driver is still in second place, currently in the championship, so that's not a problem for them. But the big question is, has the decision been made on contracts? If there's someone who comes available, a certain someone becomes available, is the decision already done? I think we'll get into that at some point. I dare say, yeah, it's a tough one for George Russell to take because, you know, two races in a row, different reasons, obviously,

why he hasn't scored any points in the main race, whereas Antonelli is still sweeping up these victories. It is difficult at the moment to see Antonelli letting up in any way. He is just showing at different types of circuits what he can do. And I've been concerned from Russell's perspective about some of the comments that he's made. Again, maybe not one to get into full depth today, but he was saying ahead of the Monaco GP, how is this is now Antonelli's championship to lose. Are those the words you really want to go with?

No, I know what you're saying. Factually, I think he's probably right. But in terms of your own motivation, you're in Hague space, surely you want to be like... Imagine Fassappen saying that. He wouldn't. I don't think Hamilton would say it. I don't think Fassappen says it.

I don't think Schumacher says it. I don't think Vettel says it. I don't think all these greats now say that kind of comment. I want Russell to be like, I'm going to tear it off of him. Every race, I'm going to turn up and I'm going to take it out of his hands. It's going on your mind. There are, in theory, enough phrases,

is that if he were to win every single Gronbury, he still wins the championship. It's not done. There's loads of time left, but he needs to get his egg screwed on and do it properly. Yes, a tight turnaround for both Russell and indeed the entire grid. We're just seven days away from the Spanish GP. No, we're not. We're seven days away from the Barcelona GP taking place in Barcelona. Another one now. Yeah.

Yeah, we're going to get that wrong, I'm sure, a number of times in our preview midweek. Since we've got a couple of minutes before we need to go to our first break, should we review our bold predictions? Yes, they were so successful this week, wouldn't they, Ben? Yeah, not too much. Your bold prediction made a lot of sense, and it looked pretty good for a while, but didn't quite end up being true.

What was it? Yeah, I said that there will be a Ferrari one, two. I didn't stipulate who or why or where or when, essentially, but that there will be a Ferrari first and a Ferrari second, and guess what? There was only a Ferrari second and no Ferrari first, nor third. I thought that it mattered, but there wasn't one.

So I was indeed wrong. You got the number two, but not the number one. Yes, which also means I get the number zero. Okay, is that how it works? Yeah, my bold prediction was that there would be no Mercedes on the podium. And I thank George Russell for all of his endeavors to make sure I was right. Unfortunately, Antonelli is a beast. Yeah, he heard your bold prediction.

He's saying, I'm going to raise you one of the most dominant performances of all time at Monaco. Yeah, he really answered. that. I feel like Antonelli can thank me for that extra motivation that is clearly given him this win. Yeah, I bet they sat there on the Mercedes couch in their little den that they've got and they went, oh, you listen to late break in this week? And they've gone, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course we have, of course we have. And they've gone, and they've gone right, so you've heard it. And Russell's gone, yeah, fully, I'm with it. I'm on board. Let's do it. And Kimmy's like, yeah, sure. Let's go for it. And they just let Russell muck it up.

Right, let's take our first break. On the other side, we've still got plenty more to get including Ferrari and Red Bull. It's not even the start of it. No. Support for today's episode comes from Square, the all-in-one system that makes running a business simpler. Starting a business is exciting. Managing payments, inventory, staff, scheduling,

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That's S-Q-U-A-R-E.com slash G-O-L-A-T-E. Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today. Welcome back, everyone. a mixed day for Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton getting second place for the second race in a row. Charles Lecler retiring from the Grand Prix going off at the final corner, the same place where Lance Stroll went off, of course.

Should we use this opportunity to talk a little bit about those track issues that may or may not have led to both of those retirements? Both Stroll and LeCler not necessarily pointing their fingers in the direction of the track as a reason why. they both retired, but ultimately causing the red flag that the FIA decided to, I wouldn't say fix, but do something about before we resumed racing a little while after. What did you make of the decision to call the red flag and then ultimately get racing underway again? Yeah, Monaco GP so dull that even the track itself decided to give up.

We've seen tarmac come away before, but not in recent history. So it was quite a new problem to unpick. And I must admit, there are a lot of men sitting around looking a bit confused with hines in their pockets, just staring at the floor for a little while. And then a massive machine with a giant broom on the bottom of it just turned up and just saying, move out the way. I'm cleaning out. I am surprised at the reaction of the drivers that left the Grand Prix due to this problem, not putting more blame on the track as the problem itself. Lance Stroll was certain that the floor itself had absolutely no problem at all. Actually, it was an engine braking issue that caused the car to snap into the wall,

which I'm quite fascinated by, really. And then Charlotte-Claire has come out quite furious over the press interviews, stating that usually I'm quite happy to take a bit of the blame. Usually I'm very honest in front of these cameras. Which I think is fair. He is. He's a very honest individual. And I think he's often very, very, very good at telling us what the actual problem is.

But the way he's gone, nothing with the track, it's the brakes. He's come out after and said, you know, only one of three of my brakes are working in a Formula One car. That's not ideal. He is right. But the fact that no track, you know, you can be attributed to this incident, both at the same corner, both with marbles on the tie, both turning over that contact back, which has worn away. I am surprised that maybe it's just a momentary thing where they're a bit inheated. You know, it's intense for them, especially for the climate.

of course is Home Grand Prix, but I'm very surprised that they haven't said any blame towards the race track itself. I think the decision to throw the red flag was correct. I think in that moment we could have seen a real deterioration of the track. Turned out not to be the case, of course, but I do think that when safety is paramount and there's cars falling into a barrier,

you do have to stop and check the situation. And I'm glad that it was a quick fix. I'm glad that you need a clean up and they actually worked out, you know what, this can run to the end of the Grand Prix. We got underway again. I'm glad that happened. But one of the first, worrying that they've laid down some new flooring and so quickly it's eroded that quickly.

I was really surprised to see the surface of the track deteriorate just so quickly. I was also pretty intrigued by the reaction of both Stroll and LeCleur to their respective retirements. I figure actually, despite them being at very opposite ends of the grid right now in terms of car performance, I imagine their reasoning might be quite similar, at least in terms of their initial reaction as to why they didn't necessarily go for. the track, I think it was almost an opportunity to vent about what was going wrong for them in their respective races. We know all of the issues that are going on with Aston Martin right now. And I think with Ferrari, whilst they're different issues, again, at a different end of the

grid. Like LeCler probably came to Monaco. He was the favourite before the Grand Prix. And the weekend, even up until that point, hadn't gone the way that he would have liked. And he's claiming how how difficult his brakes are to manage throughout this race. I think if he was to just put it on the track, I don't know how to best describe this, but if he was out there just saying, well, the track was wrong, it's like he's missed an opportunity to go,

no, but the brakes were wrong the whole race. And it almost wouldn't get the message through if he'd just gone out there and said, yeah, everything was actually going fine. And then that happened. So it wasn't my fault. It wasn't the car's fault. It was actually the tracks fault.

This was actually an opportunity to say, no, the car wasn't working as it should have done. We need to fix some things here. Do you think also he was trying to negate maybe some criticism about his pace in comparison to his teammate? He was quite regularly seven, eight seconds away from Lewis Hamilton, who was in front of him. Maybe that's also part. Maybe he's frustrated that he's unable to execute the same pace in this Grand Prix. And he even stated, in that interview, we're going to look at Lewis's configuration and move over to that way of running the car now because this is just too inconsistent for him.

Yeah, I think LeCler's pace versus Hamilton was better than it looked. It was fine. Whilst in the first in Hamilton had an advantage over LeCleur, as soon as LeCler managed to force that overcut, he was a couple of seconds behind Lewis Hamilton, which is as close as you can reasonably get unless there's a car issue in the case of someone like Hajar v. Russell, for example. But actually, like, I think LeCleur's pace at the second half

was just as strong, if not stronger than Lewis Hamilton. So I don't think he's insecure enough that it is a pace thing as to why he's come out the way that he has. I think it's just an overall frustration that the car at a weekend where their weaknesses should have been negated weren't. I think it all just came out in one go there. Yeah, I don't disagree. Hopefully we see LeCleur banks back in Barcelona and give us another classic LeClaire showing. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see if they do follow. through on what he said after this race about configurations, whether they do go a little bit

more similar in the future. In terms of the red flag, I think it was absolutely right to red flag it when they did. And this might be slightly controversial. I'm not convinced we should have gone racing again afterwards. Yeah, I disagree. I can see your reasoning. I just look. And I, look, there are people on the ground who will know way more than I do. And I'm happy to just sit back and say, We trust those people that are meters away from it who are experts of this who can say whether this is safe or not. I'm purely talking from what I could see after it was swept up. It didn't really look any. The marbles had sort of been swept up, but the surface itself still to me looked pretty dangerous.

I'm not certain. And it's easy to say in hindsight, nothing happened after the fact, therefore it was fine. I don't like to go to results orientated on that because what if something did happen and then we can say, oh, it was definitely right to call it off. It is tough. You'll never know what the other version of events would have been.

It didn't look good to me. Fair enough, I see your point. And I think you've got the right frame of mind. For me, it was a case of, is it going to actually cause serious damage to someone? You might crash the car. It's my ago, it's going to happen. Yeah, it's very, I accept that.

But also, if it was just a wet weather track, for example, is that little patch of tarmac losing the same amount of grip as well it might be if it was a bit slippery on the racetrack? And for me, these are the best drivers in the world going around the most difficult race track in the world. They should be able to negate that problem. But I don't think you're wrong for thinking the way you do. It's tough to say. It's all about, there's always an element of risk in the most perfect of conditions. So it is difficult to say when we should and shouldn't be racing. and I think, you know, given the entertainment that we had afterwards,

most people will be very happy that we did get. And I was happy we got some additional racing as well. I was just, I was a bit about it. I'll say that much. Lewis Hamilton, should we just talk about him briefly because a second consecutive second place finish for him didn't have the pace ultimately to challenge Antonelli. But outside of that, another very good result for him.

Yeah, I don't think anyone had the pace to challenge Anthony. so I'm not going to hold that to him in terms of his overall ability. I thought there were two moments where I sighed and audibly say, oh, Lewis, one was the penalty in the speeding in the pit lane because his teammate managed to mitigate it, asking many other drivers up and down the grid. And he was, I think, saved, I think, by the safety car. And the fact that Ferrari decided to not keep out Charlotte Claire and decided to follow him in, it meant that he was able to hold on to second place and serve the penalty, which is usually

not heard of. The other one, of course, was when the investigation came around that he was more than 10 car lengths away from Kimi Antigali under safety car. It wasn't just like 12 or 15. It was like half the race track away from him. I'm surprised he got away with that.

So am I. And I understand that there are essentially two lines in that rule set of you either the car in front of you is just bolted and therefore you've got to play catch-up so you might have fallen back. And of course, the other one is you're braking and therefore you're allowing the car in front of you to get away from you and you've let that go too long.

He definitely was caught out by Ancing Ellie accelerating, but not to that level. He was gone. He was about four or five corners in front of him, let alone one or two. I did think that was a bit much. But, you know, I think he got a bit lucky with the way that one, his penalty was served under the safety car, then that he got away with not being penalised for the safety car infringement. Other than that, I thought his race was pretty flawless. I thought his pace was really solid.

I think he matched Charlotte Clare comfortably throughout the entire Grand Prix. They both had their faster moments, as you would expect. Never really came under proper pressure from Lecler, which again in Monaco you would expect unless you've got a car problem. I don't think he would have been closer. I think he was a little lucky as well that Max Verstappen didn't start this Grand Prix. I think that challenge would have been made much more difficult

had we seen a full Grand Prix with Max in it. Yeah, I think in order to have any chance at all of winning this race, Hamilton would have had to have qualified second. and then got a good enough start to take the lead into turn one. I felt that, and the same with Vastappan, to be fair, whoever led into turn. If Antonelli led into turn one, he was going to win this race. And that's exactly how it played out. And it's something we discussed in qualifying review yesterday,

how third and fourth place whilst a solid result for Ferrari isn't quite enough here, because whilst they've been able to use their good starts to go from third to first or fourth to first or some other venues. It was very unlikely they were going to do that here because even if you get a good start from third place,

you are kind of boxed in. You've got nowhere to go. Do it in Catalonia. They might be first going to your favourite corner of all time. Yeah, Catalonia term wants to be very interesting in a week's time.

Quick question on Antigali, actually. Azegas take his first Grand Slam? Oh, I haven't thought about that. It must be. I don't think he's at a grand slam. He laid every single lap. He got pole. And he got fastest snap at the race, surely.

Yeah, because he pit after both Ferraris, didn't he? Did. Yeah, I think you're right, yes. Which is pretty, you don't get too many of them nowadays, to be honest. So that's a very good feat for him to have achieved. Should we talk Red Bull? Because one on the podium, one not finishing the race. Should we go, Max Verstappen first, given front row promised quite a lot.

And then ultimately, the car said no. this is so, gosh, I can't know, this is so frustrating for Max Verstappen. It felt like he was just starting to find a little bit of positivity in these regulations. And Saturday, Monaco was probably his highlight so far of the year, realistically, front road start at Monaco. I think out of everyone, Max knows that if he just gets a great start, especially with the, the reputation that the Mercedes has for starting, there's every chance that he does lead out of San DeValle.

and he ends up leading this Grand Prix, only it goes completely the other way. And you saw at the formation lap that the getaway was difficult. It looked like the car did not want to get off the line. But then when we come around to the Grand Prix, you can think, all right, well, he's probably got through that, it's worked through that problem. And it just doesn't go anywhere immediately to retire the car.

It's a real shame. I think we lost something in this Grand Prix. I do think as spectators, not having Max for staffing in that race, Costco is a big of fun, a good bit of entertainment to see. he'll be gutted. Yes, because I also believe Vestappen would have added something to the entertainment of this race, because I don't know how he would have fed versus the Ferraris, and I don't know what would have happened if he was able to get first place into term one.

And as mentioned, I think the Ferraris were third and fourth too far back to feature into that conversation. As the only person that could really challenge Ant Snelli into term one was Vastappen. And I think it was a shame for, shame for Vestappen fans, obviously, but a shame for everyone involved, because Vestappen, in this sort of condition where he doesn't have the outright fastest car, is something to behold. Like, it's very entertaining to watch. And ultimately, what we got instead was a Grand Prix that, with the greatest respect, for 90% of this was not entertaining.

You know, we've talked a lot about these regulations and whether they would improve the racing at Monaco or not. If you liked Monaco before today, you still like it. If you didn't like Monaco before today, you still don't. I don't think this is going to have changed anyone's opinions on it. And it would have been good to get Verstappen, at least in the mix, to see if he could lead out of term one, I don't know how that would have played out. No, it would have been really interesting. And even this, this may be a hard way of explaining it. If we knew what was going to happen, I would rather have just picked up Max to put someone else in P2 anyway, because that is the only chance of proper excitement we really get at

Monaco, that run down to turn one side by side. And that's the only car that doesn't make it to turn one properly is the guy who's side by side with the leader. You think we've just lost any chance of a thrill at the start of this Grand Prix. It hands first place to Kimi Antigone, realistically, unless he has a famous drop back down to seventh place, which he didn't have, and he was a great start. But I do think we lost the opportunity for an immense turn one at Monaco, which is the bit you will wait for. And I think Vostappen with where he's at right now in terms of his career and where Red Bull are at in their journey, I think more than anyone, he's in the mindset of go for wins if they're

there. And if it doesn't work out and I don't know, a tire strategy ends up being too bold and they pick up fourth rather than second, I don't think he cares. I don't think he's here to accumulate championship points. I think he's here to get a win if he wants. if he can get it. I think his mentality is send it. Yeah. But we didn't get to see that. Isaac Adjar, I think we probably heard more out of him on team radio today than any other

of his races combined, struggling with the car, struggling for power in a battle to try and keep George Russell behind, ultimately the undercut, helping George Russell until the penalty. And then even after that, we know that he has power issues on the restart, sees him drop a of spots, trying desperately to stay within five seconds of Pierre Gasly to pick up that podium, a podium that he did eventually end up on, barring any potential investigation that is ongoing. What did you make of his Grand Prix? I found it very difficult to judge. Really difficult to judge. In any other race, if he had these problems and stayed in front of a car like George Russell's

Mercedes, I would have applauded him immensely for his defensive capabilities. And I still, you know, well done, give him his juice, it's not easy. He came out and said in his podium interview that having, you know, drivability issues at any track is tough, but here it's the worst. I argue the total opposite. I argue here it's the best thing that can happen. If you're going to have a car problem that allows you to finish the Grand Prix,

it doesn't take you out of it. It's just a problem. You want to have it here because you can't, you go as slow as you want. You can't get past unless you are literally dragging the car around the racetrack. He was still reaching seventh gear, of the tunnel. He was still able to accelerate out of corners. He was still, it's not like he was a scale. He was still going at good speed, just slower. I do think that Molico has saved him

here, but nonetheless, it was a good drive. He held it well, and I do think you can hear the pressure he was under with the team to try and resolve the issue as quick as possible. Then it must be so difficult to drive a car that isn't operating comfortably in that heat, around that race track with a Mercedes who wants their title chances regained, breathing down your neck for nearly 70 laps. It's really, really difficult. I do think he handled it well. I understood what he was saying afterwards, because you're right in that if you want this to happen anywhere, it is here in that it can limit the damage. I can understand what he's saying more from a rhythm perspective, because like Monaco is all about getting into that flow with corners, you know, coming one after

the other very quickly, even during the race. I know it's comparatively quite a bit slower than qualifying, but they're still getting around there pretty quickly. So I can understand why, you know, having to think through these issues and what they're doing to the car when you just want to get into that mind state where you can flow through these corners quite naturally, I get what he's saying, but you are right. Like any other track, he would have lost that position to Russell almost straight away, and he might well have lost more as well. He fought really well.

I do think, and I know Hadjar's been this way all throughout his racing career, this isn't brand new. I do think there are times where they could use someone on the pit wall to just take it down a notch with Hadjar. Like I know he's someone who races quite, I don't want to say angry, like he races emotionally compared to some others. And a part of that has got him to where he is today, no doubt, but there is a limit to it. And I think there were times today where he could have just used.

used, whoever's voice that is, a calm voice to just, it's okay. You know how in Canada, Antigali lost his head. Yeah. They came over the radio.

Toto came over the regular. When stopping out, like, get on with the race. We've got a racing wing here. You know, like shut up, essentially.

You get on with it. I don't know if that's the right approach with Hajjar, but you need someone to have an approach with Hajjar to turn around and say either, stop winging, we're trying to fix it. You focus on the racing.

You know, calm yourself down and focus on the racing or you go the opposite way and you try and nurture it a little bit and go, hello, mate, we understand there's a problem. We need you a focus on that driving and take a deep breath and work your way through it and we're trying our best. I don't know what approach will work for him. He's a different person, but someone does need to come and say to him, if you keep getting that frustrating in the car, it will lead to a mistake eventually. Yeah, he's just got to keep doing what he's doing, right?

Just do his best to keep Russell behind or whatever's position he's in at that race at that specific point. But just focus on that. And look, if if if if he ends up going past like that's obviously not the result you want, but you need to be 100% focused on that or that's going to be more likely. So, but overall like given where this weekend started, uh, in the wall, uh, in, in first practice. Yeah. It's a good turnaround from there. I, I wouldn't be surprised if this is a fine either. If it's a suspension issue under reg flag, that tends to mean that the team has probably done something. and therefore it isn't usually driver at fault. So I wouldn't be surprised if he is found guilty,

but it isn't actually a long-trap penalty. That's usually the sign that it will be a penalty almost a few seconds after we say something like that. It'll come in right now. Yeah. Let's take our second break on this episode. On the other side, we've still got McLaren to get into and plenty of the midfield.

Welcome back, everyone. Tough day for McLaren. No points, obviously, for Lando Norris, who retired from this race. Oscar Piastri, made the most of a relatively uncompetitive car, I think you could say, at least respect in terms of where McLaren usually are. I don't, and I know, I think it was Martin Brundle who said this on Sky Commentary. We had Zach Brown sort of talking throughout this race.

I don't know if I've seen him more despondent than today. Deflated. Yeah. Deflated. Yeah. He didn't have it in him today. He could tell that he was disappointed and frustrating in what was going on. from the start it just looked like a bad car

and it didn't help that the Mercedes McFarrens squeeze each other out on the opening corner and actually that meant that Landon Norris ends up being stuck behind Pierre Gasley who had a good start and Piastri gets away so that didn't help either and then the engine issues start to arrive for Landon Norris who's already trying to play games like Holdup Russell the car's losing power when you've got an uncompetitive car

and these engine problems start to kick in it just takes away any positivity, any chance of motivation for the team, which I'm surprised about because going into this weekend, I really thought they were going to be competitive. I really thought they were going to be a threat to the top runners because it makes sense for them to be so. You look at tracks where the chassis is important, the likes of Suzuki, where suddenly they're really strong.

Certain areas of Miami as well, where they were really, really quick. And yet they're nowhere here. They were slower than all the other top teams, quite comfortably, I think. So I'm shocked that they are. so uncompetitive. On an episode last week, we spoke about McLaren in terms of how they've done so far this year, what's next for them.

As part of that discussion, we mentioned a quote from Zach Brown that happened at the Indy 500, where he was asked about the engine supply sort of issue that McLaren have and whether that would change at all in the future. And he said, if Formula One was to create a, I don't think he said cheap, but a cheaper engine formula, a more affordable engine formula, they would consider making their own engines. I wonder if after today those conversations might become a little bit more apparent because whilst as a competitor, whilst as a customer, excuse me, to Mercedes,

they've had a lot of success, they've won championships. What is infuriating, I'm sure, for Zach Brown and McLaren, is when you get an issue like today, and you can't immediately get into the wise of it because it doesn't completely sit with you. Like, if it's a car issue, purely a car issue, I'm pretty sure there would be a debrief going on right now exactly what happened, why did it happen, how do we fix it,

how do we ensure this doesn't happen at Barcelona? And whilst you can do maybe 70% of that when it comes to the engine, You can't do it 100% because the engine is not yours. As Zach Brown said on the pit wall, they are going to have to speak to HPP, Mercedes high performance power trains, and understand exactly what has gone wrong here. And the timeline of that is going to be extended out.

Mercedes, unsurprisingly, aren't going to be quite as motivated to fix this as McLaren will be. They'll want to know, obviously, in case it's something that could affect their cars, but they can't, it's not the same as investigating an issue yourself. So I understand the frustration there from McLaren's perspective. I also think Zach Brown's frustration, and this might not be just Zach Brown and McLaren. I think the frustration is you've got Piastri stuck behind someone, and you're on the pit wall just sat there and not being able to do anything.

Like any other race with the way that the track works, like you are going through what can we possibly do? How do we get this driver ahead? are we considering this tire? You just sat there on the pit well like not being able to do anything just basically watching as it goes by with Monaco. So I understand the frustration.

It's as much a spectator as we are in the United States. I think that's four engine-based failures in the last 6th Grand Prix for McLaren. Which is a lot. That is a huge percentage of competitive running. It's not just points on the board. It is data analysis. It's been able to put upgrades

the car and run through them. They've lost whole race weekends. Now, it's touring a row, of course, Fernando Norris, who went out in Canada and here in Monaco due to an engine failure. At what point do they turn around to Mercedes? They must have had something in their contract, I'm sure, to say. We expect a minimum guarantee of reliability here.

Otherwise, we get either a certain amount of money back or a discount or something, because this is over 50%, which is terrible, genuinely terrible. They'll sure they'll be having words. The problem for them, of course. Less than seven days until we're racing again. Seven days' time, we'll be done racing again, actually. That's not a longer longer time to diagnose this

with a whole other company looking at a problem for them. Yeah, I think Landa Norris is running out of parts as well. So it costs them some proper money or take some penalties, right? At this point, yeah. Just a quick one before we move on from McLaren. Did you make anything of Ti-1, Piastri versus Norris, into that? Norris somewhat compromised as a result of the exit and Ghazdi getting by him. Do you think it was fair?

I don't think it's anything more than just a much of a muchness. Two cars haven't been in the same place at the same time. It's what happens when you're qualifying X to each other. Piaastri got the bigger run through the corner. Gastri capitalised on a big of an unfortunate moment. I think Piazri is very aware that if he lets his teammate come through, he's going to be stuck behind him for the entire Grand Prix. So you do what you can.

I think it's unfortunate that that ain't up costing them another place. Yeah, I saw some people say that this wasn't fair by Piaastri, but I completely disagree with that. I think Piastri is more than entitled to be where he is. Norris is Norris hasn't got the best start in the world and he is dealing with Bostappan in front of him as well to the point where Gazley is on his right-hand side

and to try and stay in front of him he has gone very late into turn one but Piastri you know they're not side by side going into that corner Piastri doesn't need to leave the room no I agree so I think what happened to Norris was always going to happen I actually

I feel like it could have been a better result for Norris singing way I feel like he got a little bit waywards on the curb and probably could have just booted it out of the hill a bit more. I'm saying that like I'm going to have a drive of Formula One car, especially around Romico. You know, well, you know, put me in one of those cars, and you'll see. But it does feel like the result was maybe worse thing it to be.

What about Pierre Gazley? I don't even know, man. Like, how did he end up where he did and then not end up where he did? Yeah, great helmet. The thing you put on his episode, right, as well, wouldn't it? Well, yeah, yeah, you said it. What a performance from Pierre, apart from when it wasn't a great performance from Pierre, he was brilliant for the whole Grand Prix, apart from where it comes to pitting the car, apparently.

I'll admit, I was slightly confused by this, and this is a result of us recording straight after. We want to give you the raw reaction, but there are times where we would just be confused about something we've just watched. I thought he served a five-second time penalty in this race, and he should have only had five seconds at the end of not ten. There's no way that he pits under the safety car and doesn't serve a penalty because otherwise he could have had a drive-through the same as George Russell. Yeah, the answer's out there either he didn't serve it or he had a 10-second penalty or he had another five-second penalty that got mixed up in everything else. But I was just like, oh, I thought it was only five seconds. Well, he picks up one for speeding in the pit lane the first time and only time he had pitted up until that point, the second time he pits is through the safety car.

he either gets a drive-through penalty for not serving it, the same as George Russell, or he does serve that five-second penalty, and should only have a five-second penalty to take at the end of the Grand Prix. Still a solid result, nonetheless. His drive was great, right? He held off Norris really well,

up until the issues kicked in, defended brilliantly. But again, it's Monaco. So as long as you can put the car in the right place and don't make a mistake, you're going to be all right, and he did exactly that. He was all right.

Heard and shoulders by his teammate, qualifying helped him massively, and I think he did well to get clear of the likes of Lawson, behind him who we all get on to. But yeah, he was the best of the rest quite comfortably. Especially in the midfield as well where there are so many games going on to try and secure one and two points. Like, Gazzley did a good job of, you know, getting by Lando Norris at the start to really put himself away from that. And it was looking like, you know, he takes a five second

penalty or something at that point in the race. And it just doesn't matter at all because he is so far clear of anyone else who's a direct competitor. He raced for a, he raced for a, well. He was better than Colopinto this weekend. I say this weekend because it's so difficult to compare teammates pace against each other in the Grand Prix itself because you are so often just stuck behind someone else, which is why, as you said, qualifying, getting into Q3, getting that ninth place start to then take advantage of Vestap and DNFing and Russell, that happening to him and getting by Lando Norris at the start. That's why it's so important to get into ninth and 10th for these midfield drivers, because someone like Colopinto is suddenly stuck in this

Williams queue. And even if he does have the pace to maybe be quicker than them, we don't know if that's actually true, he wouldn't be able to show it anyway. He also punt Carlos Sines. He did punt Carlos Sines. Yeah, I mean, that was pretty bad from... Carlos Sines in two corners, has been hit twice, and neither of them are his fault. Hello, I am here. Like, just go just driving somebody.

It's fine. don't worry about it. What did you make of Williams today? Because they tried to do exactly the same thing they did last year. Of course, last year with the mandatory two-stop, but it's effectively the same strategy of using the other driver to build a gap to secure some points. It didn't quite work out.

It didn't. And in theory, on the surface, I think it made sense to try this. Alex Albin, a real protagonist in this story, he was very frustrated about what was going on over the radio, video. We're trying to be too smart here, guys. You know, we're, essentially, I think he's basically going, you're screwing up my race. I was doing all right. And you're screwing me over here. Because Carlos sides, I think at one point was 12 seconds behind Alex Albon. Albin seemed comfortable in front of that group. They put them onto the soft tires. And Albuhras suddenly

got to defend from a massive train. He's fortunate that, realistically, the mistake he makes, where he goes straight over the new El Shican and then end the final corner makes a mistake as well, letting Limbaugh passed. It doesn't actually cost him, because he's, the one car pass has got to stop. And that means obviously he ends up going to the back. We know that it costs him later on due to Reg Flags. But in theory, at that point, it hasn't cost him. And then Carlos Sites comes out in front.

They do the switch. It was a bit messy, wasn't it? It was a bit silly. And they ended up barely getting what. They picked up three points as a constructor. It wouldn't have been three because Sines didn't score any. It would have been with Sines scoring the way. Yeah, yeah.

It was looking like it was going to be ninth and tenth at that point. Yes. Obviously, they can't handle the fact that he got part. I'm doing twice on one lap, but it just felt scruffy and like it was a bit of a big risk where you didn't really need to take a big risk. I've got an opinion on this one. Go on, lay out. The strategy I thought was spot on. I hate it, by the way.

I hate this strategy with a passion. But in terms of how effective the strategy is, it's a no-brainer. I knew Williams were going to try this and don't blame them for doing so whatsoever. Carlos Sines does his bit absolutely perfectly, manages to back everyone up and buy a couple of seconds per lap to the point where Albin has that gap, and then he can pay it and come out just ahead of science. And then I knew it as soon as like that happened,

okay, the message for them to swap positions will come through within a lap. Within a lap, they get that message. And Albin is confused by this, doesn't think it's worth it. I really like Alex Albin. but I do not understand this at all. Number one, how do you not know ahead of this that this is going to happen? Like, they are, they started this race 11th and 12th. They qualify right in the two right. And they knew going into this race, I'm talking about Williams here more generally,

they knew that one of the racing balls was ahead of them, Liam Lawson, and Lindblah was behind. Same with the Alpine, Ghazly ahead, Colopinto behind. Those two teams, unless there was some weird first lap instance, those two teams would not be able to use team tactics to keep points. Williams, in theory, with a DNF or two, which happened, could do that. Surely in your meetings in the morning, you are all over this. Like, if that happens, this is how we're going to play it. One driver does this, the other driver does this, swap positions, you have done your pit stops and you are still in the same positions you were to begin this. It's exactly what they did last year. And yet somehow, Alex Albin is confused by

why they're doing this. It seemed very obvious to me why they were doing this. They're being too smart, Ben. They're being too smart. No, and the annoying thing is because Albin didn't do it as well as signs did on new tires. No way near as well. I was actually surprised at how quickly Limblock. It made one of the only overtakes that we ever see at Monaco. But this is where it gets me even more annoyed, is that Alex Album will now be able to say, I told you guys, it wasn't worth it. No, if you'd done your job like Carlos Sines did,

on old tires, he wouldn't have got past. Limblog as well, the only guy who hadn't pitting at that point, so was on, like, what, like 40-lap-old tires, it was atrocious defending from Alex Alvin. Yeah, it's just, it's your one job. Defend at Monaco. He's been rewarding with a really good finish. He's got more points than Carlos sides as with this race.

He's beaten Carlos Sites for the first time in a little while, yeah. The pace was okay, but the pace was good. Like, nothing wrong with the pace at all. It was just the defensive work was... He immediately made mistakes, two in two laps essentially, and he was pretty sure that he's pretty much the only guy to make such a mistake that costs overtakes to happen, and then they only seem to have this strategy.

Speaking of this hold-up strategy, what did you make of the call for Norris to hold up Russell, but then to not pit piastri when they... were holding him up. I'm guessing they just didn't have the margin to do it. But then they told Norris to go back to normal speed. Yeah, I don't know exactly what was going on there. Because I know Norris had these power unit issues.

Potentially they were thinking that that was a bit risky and that they knew that was going on to the point where Russell might actually be able to get by because they were, it wasn't even like the same as Hajar where the issue was quite consistent throughout the race, it was fine for five laps and then really dodgy for a lap or two. I think maybe it just opened the door a bit too much for Russell. I'm not too sure. Yeah, I don't think it was great strategic planning from McLaren, but there might be a reason there.

We don't know. Yeah, I mean, if they went through with it, I get what they were doing. But yeah, a bit of a weird one. We should probably mention racing balls, because what a great day it was for them. What a great day it is for you, Sam, who I think has them in your fantasy team. have both drivers and the team. Yeah, very pleased. Yeah, I don't. Fifth and sixth place, though, very good indeed.

Fifth and sixth place. What a result, especially for Limbludd, who started in what, P15, this Grand Prix? P14. Yeah, it was 15th, you're right. 15, yeah. Well, it became 14th technically. Sure, sure, but he moves up nine places from his qualifying position, which, Monaco, that ain't easy to do. He runs long. He's the last. person to need to stop.

And, hey, the only person that still needs to stop. And the luck of Monaco rolls the dice and it rolls your way. And that is part of Monaco. That's part of the risk you take. And when he started so far back, you know what? It made total bloody sakes to do this. Just stay out for as long as you can because you know what?

You're going to lose. Nothing. He would have finished out the points anyway. He'll be in that queue regardless. It wouldn't have meant anything. He might have started 14th or 15th. You might have ended 14 to 15. No harm done.

it happens, there you go. We can praise Liam Lawson to the high gods because of how well he drove. Turns out he thinks he's right behind his team, mate, because the strategy was brilliant. And on the flip side, you've then got Liam Lawson, who has run a sensational race, qualifies well, gets off the line nicely. And whilst he can't keep pace with the likes of Gasley and the McLarence, which we understand, because the Alping is a faster car than the racing balls, he is just pumping in consistent quick laps.

He gets away from the drama behind, running nice and smooth, pit swinging east to pit, everything is in hand. I think Lawson ran almost a perfect Grand Prix. I thought he was absolutely brilliant. All race. This is being a brilliant day for the race he balls team. Yeah, Limblad, pretty good. Got lucky, obviously. It's going to happen. It happens. I still think he did a pretty good job. Lawson, yeah, what a brilliant weekend. Not only qualified brilliantly well yesterday to get it into Q3, but then

to take advantage of that today. I mentioned on yesterday's qualifying review, and I still maintain this. Racing balls, Alpine, Williams, Hasse, I don't think there was really much between these teams all weekend long. So the fact that he's been able to elevate himself above that group, and I know Limblud has finished directly behind him, but on pure pace alone and pure result in terms of qualifying, he is the one that outside of Gazley, you could say,

has really elevated above that group. Did it pick up the penalties at Gaston? Didn't pick up the penalties that Ghzley and many, many more did. pace seemed pretty reasonable throughout this Grand Prix and fully deserves the 10 points at least that he'll get from this race. This was one of his

one of his best weekends in F1 so far could be the best. This is joint best result and I'd argue that at Morocco as well particularly, if there was someone, if there's a list of people I'd put money on

for making collisions with the wall or someone else, he wouldn't be too far from the top a little while ago. So he's just living a fantastic drive. Very much so. Let's do Driver of the Day. The verdict is in. You're the driver of the day.

You're the driver of the day. You're good at driving. The public vote went to the driver who started and finished first, Kimmy Antonelli. Same for you or someone else? It's the same for me. It was a grand slam. He led every single lap. He was immensely quick. Antigelli was superior in all parts of Formula One. one this weekend.

And usually it's boring to give it to the guy who finished first. And usually with Monaco, it's like, oh, I'm first, but the car behind me is pushing me around the racetrack

because I don't get to go any faster. Not today. He was scupendously good. He was. I'm going Antonelli as well. Lawson, very close here. Gets a shell. Yeah.

And honestly, if he could line up perfectly in grid spots, Sergio Perez as well, like his pace, again, very good. We'll see,

we're not 100% sure whether he's keeping the point that he's earned. Yeah, we're not celebrating this Kagalak point because we're really not sure if it's staying around, but we are aware of it. But yeah, in terms of his actual pace throughout this Grand Prix, very good. What about...

Get in the bin, bin, bin, bin, bin, worst driver of the day. Ben, bin, bin, been, worst driver of the day. You suck at driving. Goodness me. There's a list. There's a list. Who's in contention? Maybe I'll go Lance stroll.

I'm not giving it to Lance stroll. I'm not considering stroll or Lucla. Russell deserves a shout, I think. Maybe Colapinto deserves a bit of a gnaud here. No, I'm going to go strole because he picked up a time penalty for trap limits, which I think is a crocious. Oh, yeah, that's fair. Knowing here the pace of his teammate and then crashes the car,

which I get is not necessarily his own fault, but also 20 other drivers didn't do it. So, yeah, I'm just going to give it to stroll. I am going to go with, it's a tough one this. Right, that's true. Who have you got as options here? Well, there are so many mitigating circumstances about a lot of these. As I mentioned, I'm not going to give it to stroll or LeClau,

because I just don't believe that's 100% on them the way that they crashed into the wall at the final corner. We didn't get to see the Bearman and Ocon incident from the first lap, so I can't really make a judgment there. I think I am going to go for... I know he was just stuck in traffic, so it seems very harsh. I'm going to go with Colopinto for that incident because him and Holcomberg can maybe share it.

They've managed to punt off another car. I don't blame Holcomburg for what happened. Not at all. Not until. Two cars where I go through there. It's a pure racing instinct. It's just unlucky. I think I put Colopinto at fault 100%.

But that corner is rough. And the way Russell was backing up that pack, the car's got to go somewhere. He's trying to get down the inside of that corner. I just don't put Holgerburger burger. I think the penalty's harsh. Oh, fair enough. I don't think it's the same thing as the Colopinto one

in that he is really trying his best to not go in. Like, you can see him at almost full lock. Yeah. It was a bit a weird one, wasn't it? With cars eventually going too wide that didn't look like they were going to be too wide. And Holcombberg is a bit like, kind of have to go up.

the inside, I guess, and see what happens. But yeah, Colopento's one was a bit more obvious. They're a tough, worst driver of the day, though. Big brain strap. Bob, we're going to need you to box for wets. What? It's not even raining out. What are you talking about?

Yeah, and Bob, if you get a chance, wait. A lot of strategy talk today, obviously, with the lack of overtaking. What are you going for here? I was going to give it to McLaren for the fails hold up with George Russell. for that amounted to nothing and just cost Norris a lot of time. Obviously, it led to nothing because he ending up not finishing the Grand Prix anyway,

but I do think that that was just a half-hearted, bizarre ask. It led to absolutely nothing anyway. I was going to consider some of the things that I've already mentioned on today's episode, but to bring up something new. Just really funny how, and I know their strategy is irrelevant

because of how slow they are, but Alonso and Stroll are on medium tires to start this race. Alonso does three laps, strolled as five, and they come in to run the soft tire, and they just keep going on it. I think they've just used this

as an opportunity to see what their tire wear is like. Maybe, yeah. I think even if they put the hard tire on, decide to try and undercut everyone by 40 laps, it still wouldn't have amounted to anything other than last place at one point. I think they were doing one of those F-1, like game challenges where it's like how many laps can you do before your tires

drive until the tire explodes that's what that bar we're doing today get get the thumbnail out yeah right let's take our final break on the other side moment of the race welcome back everyone to the final part of today's review of the monoco gp it's time for moment of the race we've got some discord submissions coming up very shortly but sam what was your moment of the race i've got a couple and ben the one we just spoke about the break has just taking it because that is But the one I was going to go for was actually before the racing even begun. And that is when Martin Brundel, the legend that he is doing is pit walk, his grid walk. And a security guard gives Martin a little shove.

And he goes, don't push me, mate. I'm almost famous. That's such a great line from Martin. Spitting bars out here is Martin. I'm almost famous. Oh, Martin. In these streets, you're the top dog. Genuinely, my moment of the race was just going to be Martin Brundle, like all the day.

Like he had that line. He then also had the Googling what OG meant line. GEO. Which is great. Another contender was like the, do you remember the 1984 Dallas GP? No, I was in hospital because my legs were messed up. And Crofti's just like, good job.

Wait, no, not good job. It's like, Crofty hasn't even like listened to what the response is. Yeah, good job, yeah. My actual moment of the race was, was Stroll's reaction to his DNF because poor Natalie Pinkham is just there trying to give him an out, like, look at the screen behind you, look at the tires.

And he's like, you could have this. Nah, man, just... You chose this. Yeah, yeah, they're just struggling with the brakes and everything, you know. No, look. Look at you, lads. A couple of others that really shung for me was Pierre Gass's reaction over the radio when he thought he had P3 and his engineer has then had to stop him

and tell him that he doesn't have P3 due to the penalty. Just awful to hear, yeah, P3 baby! His hand pumping out of the car, heartbreak. The other one, and this is more of a faux par on Sky's point of view, I don't know what was going on with their in-comitory box camera direction. But the way that Norris is being passed in the tunnel due to his engine failing and they're just not reacting to it at all. They're not understanding what's going on.

And then later on they go, oh, Russell's through. When did that? When did that happen? We didn't catch that. And the same again with Albin, who's locked up and going straight over the Gnobel Chican. And they've gone, oh, that must have been the mistake that Alex Albaugh made to let Limbaugh. It's like, no, no, that's also not what happened. It was another time.

Are you just not seeing what we're seeing at this point? Just missing key parts of the action. It is frustrating, for sure. Let's see what the Discord submitters have to say for their moment of the race. Thank you for all of your submissions. Quite a lot to get through. Let's start with Abby.

Hi, this is Abby live from the Monaco Grand Prix. My moment of the race was when Kimmy laughed at George. Just perfect. Oof. Size large. It's never a moment you want. That seems obvious to say, but it's pretty demoralizing being lapped by your teammate.

Yeah. especially when you are title contenders, title rivals. You know, we've all had bad days. You know, you out there listening, me sat here. We've all had those tough days in Formula One cars where our teammates come past us. But when you're fighting for a title, it's a different scenario, and that must have hurt. Thank you very much, Abby, for taking time out of your Monaco GP experience to give us a clip there. And we're not jealous at all.

Arresta is up next. Hi everyone, Arista here from Always Sunny Philadelphia. My moment of the race was the race stewards deciding that this was their moment to shine and it was their job to make Monaco interesting. So they gave out penalties like candy except one for Ocon. Yeah, O'Conn did get a penalty. How does that work? That's the whole point of penalties.

My goat. If no one's going to make this fun, we're going to step up to the plate. like stewards assemble. Ocon just got the goat strout of not getting penalized and doing nothing else. And that's somehow got him two points. Yeah, he also stopped super early again, didn't he?

He was one of the early stoppers. Yeah, it worked. It worked. Well, yeah, I hadn't even thought about that. Thank you very much indeed. Arresta. Let's go to turbulent juice. I just hate juice that's turbulent.

I like my smooth juice. Turbulent juice here Longtime listener First time caller First time hanging out in the Discord Y'all are fun Moment of the race was definitely the

third speeding in the pit lane penalty I think the stewards did that one cleanly and efficiently and really set the tone for the penalties moving forward See y'all on the next one

Juice out Juice out We love a First time, me. Thank you for joining us in the Discord. It's amazing that you had a great time. You're all welcome. If you got in the Giscuitary, yeah, links in the description. Join us for race weekends. We have a really good time over there. Indeed. Let's go next to A Stranger to Gene Hasse, aren't we all?

Hey, late breakers. My moment of the race was the checkered flag. Because, to quote, the great Ben Hawking, goodness me. Even with safety cars, red flags, at the end of the day, really nothing has. happens. Monaco is just so dull. I'm so over it. I like to think that the goodness me isn't the quote. It's actually everything he said after. Yeah, yeah. That's what I always say. When we write a book on the back of the book, that'll be that quote. Yeah, yeah. As Ben always says. I was like, as he went through the last five seconds, I don't remember saying any of this, but thank you very much, stranger to Jean Huss. Just a Mum is up next.

Just to mom, so what do I know? But the moment of race for me was Lewis racing back to his car on his scooter, taking out that cameraman. Go Lewis. Oh, yeah. I didn't see this. Strong-armed him out the way. Yeah, he's on the scooter.

Angel is sprinting behind him, right? For the restart. And this cameraman is running backwards trying to keep Lewis in the shot. And he's literally like, get away, man. It palms this camera straight off. Yeek, yeah. Yeah. Also, you're not Justin Mum.

You're a legend. Oh, beautiful words. That's what we think of mams. Up next, Yock and Rince Ghost. Even, lads, my moment of the race is when Lando Norris's engine decided to give up and was the only interesting thing

that had happened in the entire race. And David Croft decided just to ignore it like it wasn't even happening. I don't even think he was watching the race. Someone in the Discord said he was too busy with the speed gang in the pit lane. I haven't got a better answer. Could be.

Oh, God. That name made me snot as well. That was really gross. On to Aaron Richardson 81. Now than everyone, my moment of the race has to be Lance Shawl having the best cop-out possible of being able to blame the track, literally falling apart, is the reason why he went in at the barrier. And when he was in the pen, he was just, no, it was the car. I bet the team were there, just like, Lance, let's just talk about this first.

he's been served up an easy one and he's just missed it it's like all his anger came out no it's the car it's been the car all season and the car is rubbish i hate the car launched the floor the car is the right the floor please say the floor no the floor is actually the best bit about the car i hate the car Natalie pinkum's heads exploded sorry I'm sorry thank you very much indeed

we move next to LJ 13769. So, Stratham, Claire, was struggling with potholes. One of us. One of us. One of us. And, yeah, Fernando might have a point, Cheko might have a point. That was pretty mean.

I don't know what else happened. Not much. All right. Bye. It's a very British reference, that is. Monaco, Cornwall Council, pot holes. Yeah, that's the only way that we are the same. Yes.

If you're a lot from the UK folks, we have a serious issue with potholes. Last up, we have Eames. Hey, it's Eames. My moment of the race, and we know you're not going to use this, you cowards. It's Bernie Collins. It's always Bernie Collins. Bernie's an angel. Bernie is the absolute goat.

Like, she's so good. So good. So good. You know what? I could just have a Bernie Collins channel that I just could hear all day. just talking away because it's the best thing on Formula One. It's just so, it's so rare to have someone talking on commentary, like, about something that is about, like the LeClair Hamilton situation. She's just outlining exactly like what they should be thinking about.

And then the situation happens. It's so good. She's so competent. She's so brilliant at her job. Yeah, always more Bernie. Absolutely love her. So we've also just had it. Sorry?

Collins. Yes, of course. More Bernie. Collins. definitely. We have also just found out about Hajjar, Ben. We have. He's going to be all right. Yep. No further action for that alleged red flag incident. So Hadjar keeps his podium. Good stuff. Good stuff indeed. Thank you very much for all of those moment of the race submissions.

It's very much appreciated. Sam, we've been here for a few hours, I think, at this point. There's a lot to review today. Hopefully, we've done a good enough job to cover off as much as possibly can. But as mentioned at the top of this episode, we will have our driver ratings, our power rankings on Patreon tomorrow. So if there is one of your favorite drivers out there that didn't get a lot of attention on today's episode, that's where you can find a bit more chat about them. Yeah, give Patreon a try if you're going to be a bit more involved. Do you get a say as well when it comes to power rankings? Since we do a Patreon ranking as well for every driver, where you get to vote on their ranking as well. Get involved. It's really fun to have you all over there.

There's loads of extra content as well. We're just about to review the 1998 British Grand Prix as well, which is a controversial one. So you haven't seen it. Good one. Good one. Very good. Very wet, very interesting. Go go give it a watch and then we chat through it. And you unlock everything, the whole back catalogue as well. So try it out. You can always cancel after a month. It isn't for you. And it helps the show, produce great content, hopefully, that actually comes back to you and you enjoy it as well. We're going to be back, of course, Mick week as well, because we've got another Grand Prix

to start talking about. We're on a roll, folks. Get to preview the best turn one in all a motorsport. Unfortunately, the first 30 minutes will be unusable because Ben will just be going on about Turn 1 of Spain. But hey, there's still going to be a show. So come along, check it out. Thank you for listening to us. And we'll see you in midweek, of course.

Follow social media. And just do me a favor. Go and subscribe to YouTube because we're literally like 15 people away from hitting 10K. Oh, it's nine. Nine of you can do it. Nine of you can do it. Please.

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And remember, keep breaking late.